What children really learn in a system built on high-stakes testing

Jason’s Story

In Assessing Children’s Learning , Mary Jane Drummond tells the story of Jason.

Jason is seven and a half. He’s been at school for nearly three years. Now he’s taking a maths test in the school hall with the rest of his class.

Out of thirty-six questions, Jason gets one correct.

Jason hasn’t learnt much maths, Drummond says. But he’s learnt quite a bit about how to be a good pupil:

‘He has learnt how to take a test. His answers are written neatly, with the sharpest of pencils. When he reverses a digit and sees a mistake, he crosses it out tidily. He places his answers on the line or in the box as instructed…’

Jason doesn’t understand a thing on the paper, but he knows he can’t get angry and turn the table over. He can’t shout.…